(2) FDR - A Public Career

7/29/2019 (2) FDR - A Public Career

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FDR: A PUBLIC CAREER

A Brief Chronology of Major Events

1910 - Election to the New York State Senate

When Dutchess County Republicans split between old guardconservatives and progressives it became possible for a Democrat to be elected

A colorful, dynamic campaigner, FDR toured dirt roads in an open red Maxwellautomobile, soliciting the votes of normally Republican farmers.

FDR gained quick recognition by his leadership of upstate New YorkDemocrats in a fight against Tammany Hall, the New York City Democratic partymachine.

1912 - Supports Woodrow Wilson's Bid for Presidential Nomination; Re-electedto New York State Senate

At the 1912 Democratic National Convention he backed Woodrow Wilson

against Champ Clark, the candidate of populist William Jennings Bryan, in abitter contest for the party's presidential nomination.

1913 - Appointed Assistant Secretary of the NavyNamed Assistant Secretary of the Navy by President Wilson, he was to

serve in that post throughout the Wilson presidency (1913-20). Although muchmore knowledgeable about naval matters than his superior, Josephus Daniels(who had been a North Carolina newspaper editor), he initially lacked Daniel's'considerable ability to function in the Washington political scene. A strongadvocate of navy interests, FDR became a "hawk" in the Wilson administrationas the war in Europe began to impinge on the United States.

1918 - Supports Wilson's Foreign Policy ObjectivesAfter America's entry into World War 1 in 1917, President Wilson

emphasized that the United States had no territorial objectives and that this wasa war to make the world "safe for democracy", a "war to end all wars". By 1918he had enunciated the "fourteen points" he hoped would provide the basis for apeace treaty, including the establishment of a League of Nations. FDR was astrong supporter of these objectives.

1920 - Runs as Democratic Party Candidate for Vice - PresidentA rising political star, the Roosevelt name and his progressive image won

him the Democratic Party's vice-presidential nomination on the ticket with the

conservative newspaper publisher Gov. James M. Cox of Ohio. The Democratshad little hope of victory. Americans, tired of war and Europe's problems, optedfor Warren G. Harding's promise of a "return to normalcy." FDR's campaign,regarded as a sacrificial gesture, was highlighted by a vigorous defense ofWilson's advocacy of U.S. membership in the League of Nations.

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1921 - Contracts PoliomyelitisIn the summer of 1921, while vacationing at the family summer home on

Campobello Island (New Brunswick, Canada), FDR was stricken withpoliomyelitis (infantile paralysis). Recovery was slow, as was the recognition thathe had permanently lost the use of his legs. While his mother argued for agenteel retirement to the Hyde Park estate, Eleanor - together with his politicalmentor and advisor Louis Howe - urged FDR not to give up his aspirations andpublic career.

During the 1920's Eleanor became an important figure in the DemocraticParty in her own right.

1924 - Makes Nominating Speech for Al Smith at the Democratic NationalConventionFDR signaled his active return to politics by his nominating speech for

New York Governor Al Smith, the "Happy Warrior". Davis, who was chosen bythe Convention as the Democratic Party candidate for President, went down todefeat against Calvin Coolidge.

1928 - Again Nominates Al Smith; Election as Governor of New YorkAl Smith, after being placed in nomination by FDR, was accepted as the

candidate by the Democratic Party. Smith then persuaded FDR to run for theNew York governorship. Smith's identification with New York City's TammanyHall was a liability. He hoped that Roosevelt's appeal to Protestant, rural upstatevoters would swing the Empire State to him in the presidential contest with theRepublican Herbert C. Hoover. Although Al Smith lost New York and thetraditionally Democratic South in the national elections, FDR, in a strenuouscampaign, managed a narrow victory.

1930 - Reelection As Governor of New York.During his two terms as governor of New York, FDR established a

reputation as a reforming progressive in the Theodore Roosevelt tradition andas a champion of relief for impoverished upstate farmers. His greatest struggle-for control of the Saint Lawrence River waterpower resource by the state ratherthan private utilities-aimed at providing cheaper electricity for the ruralconsumer. With the outbreak of the Great Depression, he identified himself withthe urban relief cause by appointing Harry Hopkins to head the TemporaryEmergency Relief Administration. As the depression deepened, he assembledthe "Brain Trust," a group of faculty members from Columbia University, toformulate with him a comprehensive program for resolving the economiccollapse that had begun in 1929.

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1932 - Elected PresidentFDR was nominated at the Democratic National Convention over the

active opposition of Al Smith, who had become estranged from FDR (onbecoming Governor of New York, FDR had decided to keep neither Al Smith'spolitical advisor, Belle Moskowitz, nor Robert Moses, Smith's Secretary ofState). In a dramatic gesture, FDR flew to the Convention in Chicago to acceptthe nomination. This was the first time that a nominee had gone to a conventionto make an acceptance speech. It was in the course of that speech that he said:I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people." - thuscoining the phrase that would describe his administration's economic recoveryand social reform programs.

1933 (March) - Combats the Banking Crisis; Makes First "Fireside Chat"On the eve of the inauguration, the nation's banking system had

collapsed as millions of panicky depositors tried to withdraw savings that the

banks had tied up in long-term loans. Approximately 12 to 14 million Americanswere unemployed, and business had nearly ground to a halt. In his inauguraladdress, President Roosevelt told the nation that "the only thing we have to fearis fear itself" and promised effective leadership in the crisis. That same day heclosed the banks by proclamation, summoned a special session of Congress forthe passage of emergency banking legislation, and began the process thatwithin a week provided the liquidity that banks needed in order to reopen. Thebanks also had to regain public confidence, and in his first "fireside chat" radiobroadcast to the American people the new president explained his actions andurged the people to stop hoarding cash. Millions obliged as the self-assured newchief executive offered a new, vigorous approach to the nation's problems.

1933 ("The First Hundred Days") - Creation of the "Alphabet Agencies"During the first three months of the administration there was a flood of

legislation which involved all the major economic sectors in an attempt to helprebuild the country's infrastructure and to bring relief and jobs to millions. After adecade of wrangling, Congress enacted a complex new farm bill, the Agricultural

Adjustment Act (AAA). It provided several mechanisms to help raise agriculturalprices, but the one most extensively used involved contractual reductions ofsurplus crops in return for government payments. The National IndustrialRecovery Act (NIRA), was the most innovative early New Deal measure. Itprovided for two major recovery programs-a vastly expanded public works effort,carried out by a Public Works Administration (PWA), and a complex program toregulate American business and ensure fair competition. A National Recovery

Administration (NRA) approved and enforced a set of competitive codes for eachindustry.

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The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was established for theconservation of the natural resources of the country - timber, soil, and water -and to provide employment and training for unemployed young men as long asthe depression lasted.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) became one of the outstandingand striking successes of the New Deal program almost from its inception andcontinuing on to the present day, but was the target of bitter attacks by businessspokespersons, who considered its program a socialistic, unconstitutional threatto competing private industries. By the terms of the Act, the TVA was directed tooperate and build dams; to produce munitions for national defense; to developnew types of fertilizers; to develop the Tennessee River and its tributaries in theinterest of navigation, flood control, and the production and distribution ofelectricity.

Emergency expenditures for relief, also designed to "prime the economicpump," poured into the economy through the Federal Emergency Relief

Administration (FERA).

1935 - Creation of the WPA; Social Security; and Labor LegislationThis year saw the enactment of three of the most significant and important

pieces of legislation of the whole New Deal period. The Works ProgressAdministration (WPA) became the federal government's largest jobs program forunemployed workers. It encompassed an extraordinarily wide array of activities,varying from large construction projects such as Grand Coulee Dam, toemploying artists to decorate schools and public buildings such as Coit Tower,to supporting acting groups such as Orson Welles' Mercury Theater, to hiringphotographers - such as Dorothea Lange - to document conditions in thecountry.

The Social Security Act created a program to provide the primary meansof assuring a continuing income when family earnings stop or are reducedbecause of the retirement, death, or disability of any person who contributes tothe support of the family.

The Wagner Labor Relations Act governs the labor-managementrelations of business firms, with the general objective of guaranteeing toemployees "the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labororganizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their ownchoosing, and to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collectivebargaining or other mutual aid and protection." To safeguard these rights and toensure the orderly exercise of them, the act created the National LaborRelations Board (NLRB). Before the enactment of the NLRA, the federalgovernment had refrained almost entirely from supporting collective bargainingover wages and working conditions and from facilitating the growth of tradeunions. The new law marked a significant reversal of this attitude.

1936 - Elected to Second Term

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Running on the record of the New Deal, President Roosevelt secured anoverwhelming victory over the Republican candidate Alfred M. Landon,Governor of Kansas, who carried only two states - Maine and Vermont

1937 - Conflict Over Supreme CourtIn 1935 and 1936 much of the legislation vital to the president's New Deal

program such as the National Recovery Act and the Agricultural Adjustment Acthad been held to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Referring to themas the "nine old men", President Roosevelt proposed enlarging the size of theCourt by adding one new justice for each current justice failing to retire by theage of seventy (up to a maximum of six). Accused of trying to pack the Court inorder to secure a more sympathetic forum, he was soundly rebuffed byCongress.

1940 - Runs For an Unprecedented Third TermThe decision to run for reelection reflected both domestic and foreign

considerations. Domestically, no clear successor acceptable to the Presidenthad emerged during the course of his second term. Overseas, there had beenthe increasingly aggressive policies of Japan, Italy and Germany during the latethirties; and now there had been the stunning fall of France.

The campaign was fought over domestic issues, not foreign policy. Earlierin the year, President Roosevelt's opponent, Wendell Wilkie, had supportedpassage of the Selective Service Act ( which provided for the first peacetimedraft in U.S. history). Although President Roosevelt decisively won, the margin ofvictory was not nearly as great as in the 1936 election.

1941 - U.S. Becomes the "Arsenal of Democracy"

The crisis in Europe had already led, in 1940, to the buildup of America'sdefense industries, as well as several actions in support of Britain: the sale ofsurplus war material in June; and the transfer in September of 50 overageddestroyers in exchange for several naval and air bases.

1941 saw the signing, in March, of the Lend-Lease Act - which wouldprovide billions of dollars in military credits to Britain (and later, the SovietUnion). In July, the U.S. occupied Iceland to deny it to Germany and to providea base for naval escorts to shipping.

In August, the Atlantic Conference, the first summit meeting betweenPresident Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill, resulted in an 8-pointdeclaration of principles outlining aims for a post - war world.

With the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on December 7,1941 -"a day that will live in infamy" - and the subsequent declarations of war on theUnited States by Germany and Italy, America entered the Second World War.

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1942 - President Signs Japanese Internment Order; First Turns in the Tide ofWar

Ten weeks after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed the executiveorder which resulted in the internment of over 100,000 Japanese - Americans,the overwhelming majority of whom were American citizens. As a racially based,politically motivated action it stands as a major blemish on the President'swartime record.

In mid year Japan suffered her first military defeat in the naval battle offMidway Island. By year's end, Britain had stood firm in Egypt and the U.S. hadinvaded North Africa.

1943 - Exercises Personal DiplomacyThree times during 1943 - at the Casablanca Conference in January, and

at the Cairo and Teheran Conferences in November- summit meetings were heldto set strategy, enunciate conditions for the ending of the war ("unconditionalsurrender") and plan for the post-war world.

1944 - Conducts Fourth Campaign for the PresidencyAging, worn and in ill health, President Roosevelt nevertheless won the

election against Thomas E. Dewey in one of the bitterest campaigns ever. Notwishing to have a fight in the Democratic Party over a Vice - Presidentialcandidate, the President had passed over the sitting Vice - President, HenryWallace, and selected Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri.

1945 - Attends His Last Summit Meeting; Death of the PresidentIn early February the "Big Three" - Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin - met

at Yalta to resolve questions on Poland and the occupation of Germany, to

clarify when the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan and toformulate the structure of the United Nations.

In late March, having returned exhausted from Yalta, the President wentto Warm Springs to recuperate. Two weeks later, on April 12th at 3:35 PM, thePresident died from a cerebral hemorrhage.

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(2) FDR - A Public Career